High School Sports

Nerves? Not with this troop

The Chewbacca sound

Perry-Lecompton High senior right fielder Daffodil Reumund shows off her unusual ability to speak like Chewbacca.

Perry  Sound man Ben Burtt, who created the voices for the various Star Wars creatures, mixed sounds of bears, dogs, lions and walruses to come up with the voice of Chewbacca, the big, hairy creature from the 1977 film.

If only Perry-Lecompton High senior softball player Daffodil Reumund had been around back then, Burtt could have saved himself a lot of trouble. When things get tense for 11-1 Perry-Lecompton, Reumund kicks her head back in the manner of a wolf howling at the moon and lets loose with what she calls her “Chewbacca.” Tension broken.

“It always brings us up when we’re down,” said LeeAnne Pringle, a utility player for the Kaws. “She did it for me the other night when I was in a hitting slump and I hit a double. I was standing on second, smiling, and she said, ‘See, I got you out of it.’ ’’

Trying to describe the sound, first baseman Erin Powell said, “Her little gurgling. It’s in her throat. It’s weird. I can’t do it. She’s one of a kind.”

Daffodil, whose two sisters (Marigold and Poppy) also are named after flowers, happily twice performed her “Chewbacca” sound at the end of Wednesday afternoon’s practice under the sun at Lecompton Field.

The signature sound is one of many things the eight-deep senior class will miss about gathering every afternoon under the instruction of coach Jill Larson-Bradney, a former Kansas University softball player. Most of the eight seniors have been teammates since they were in first or second grade.

Second baseman Emily Heurter, pitcher Courtney Kasson, left fielder Samantha Kopp, Powell, Pringle, right fielder Reumund, catcher Sandy Robbins and third baseman Chelsea Williams will be honored on Senior Day today between games of a doubleheader against Mill Valley. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Kasson will continue her softball career at Butler County Community College in El Dorado. By her count, she has a 27-2 record as a pitcher the past two seasons. She’s batting .647 with four home runs in 2009.

Asked if she has a better future as a hitter or pitcher, Kasson said, “That’s a tough one.” So is she. Last summer, she was smacked in the forehead by a smash up the middle. She stayed in the game and rapped a stand-up double the next inning, but was too woozy to continue pitching. She wore the imprint of the seams from the softball on her aching forehead and didn’t miss a game.

“It’s definitely more fun to be the hitter than the hit-ee, I guess you could say,” Kasson said. “My bat, balls hit off it have been clocked at 110 mph. Imagine taking that to the forehead.”

She revealed her soft side when asked about the end of this team nearing.

“They’re hilarious,” Kasson said of teammates. “They’re insane. I’ll miss them more than you’ll ever know. It’s going to be weird getting used to a new team.”

Said Kopp: “I played with 90 percent of them my entire life. Sad, sad, it’s very sad.”

In just a few words, Pringle captured so well why they will be so sad to part ways: “We’re always happy.”